“People spend a surprising amount of time on things that will contribute little or no value to getting them to a seed round, and this talk is the best I’ve seen in terms of presenting the issues in its entirety.

“Naval broke down the 5 main qualities of an ‘exceptional startup,’ in the following order:

1. Traction
2. Team
3. Product
4. Social Proof
5. Pitch/Presentation

“And while all these qualities are important, Naval explained, the most important thing is to understand that: ‘Investors are trying to find the exceptional outcomes, so they are looking for something exceptional about the company. Instead of trying to do everything well (traction, team, product, social proof, pitch, etc.), do one thing exceptionally. As a startup you have to be exceptional in at least one regard.’”

Watch the video to learn about the secret history of Venture Hacks and see why Naval calls this the most thoroughly researched interview he’s ever done. I also sneak on the set for 5 seconds before they throw me off.

“Entrepreneur [now VC] Mark Suster and a rotating group of guest experts bring you weekly news and commentary on the top 10 recent venture deals and exits.”

Episodes

This Week in Venture Capital (TWiVC) is a great way to get to know Mark and his guests without ever meeting them. And if you’re not in the Valley, TWiVC is a wonderful way to get a feel for Valley culture, even though the show is filmed in LA — Silicon Valley is a mindset, not a location.

1. John Doerr: The salesman for nerds

I’m going to keep my eyes on the videos coming out of TechCrunch Disrupt this week. The best talk on Monday was Charlie Rose’s interview of John Doerr.

I’ve always thought of John Doerr as a salesmen for nerds. And Doerr always looks at the big picture — I remember him talking about how the browser was going to be important again, well before Firefox emerged.

2. Gates convinces Jobs to give him 3 pre-release Macs

Watch how Gates manipulates Jobs hatred of IBM to get his way at 6:45.

Every entrepreneur should see Pirates of Silicon Valley. This made-for-TV movie from 1999 is amazingly well-done. It’s a dramatization of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak starting Apple; Bill Gates and Paul Allen starting Microsoft; and how Jobs and Gates collided.

The script and acting ring true. Wozniak writes that “the personalities were very accurately portrayed.” Steve Jobs actually invited Noah Wyle, the actor who portrays Jobs, to impersonate him at Macworld. And the negotiations are pretty realistic.

Watch the clip above and rent the movie if you like it — it’s cheesy but good.

Why VHTV?

Who has time to watch all this? You don’t. Neither do I. But I do have time to watch some of it while I’m brushing my teeth, folding laundry, and cleaning the toilet. If I watch it and like it, we’ll link to it on venturehacks.tv.

Why Tumblr?

We’ve been using WordPress since the dawn of time but we’re trying Tumblr for VHTV. First, I just wanted to try Tumblr and see what it’s like. Second, Tumblr themes are badass. Third, topherchris’s blog sucked me into Tumblr. He’s Tumblr’s Editorial Director and general internet jackass. Everyone running a community should watch and learn from topherchris.

Update: A nice side effect to publishing on Tumblr is that people are now following us on Tumblr. That’s a new distribution channel for us.

Now, please head over to venturehacks.tv and watch pmarca in formal VC Wear: